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.tf A LECTURE 

, IA 

IRISH REPEAL, 

IN ELUCIDATION OF 

. THE FALLACY OF ITS PRINCIPLES, 

AND IN PROOF OF 

ITS PERNICIOUS TENDENCY, 

IN ITS MORAL, RELIGIOUS, AND POLITICAL ASPECTS, 



BY 



LEWIS C. LEVIN 



PHILADELPHIA: 
1844 



31 A 



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50 



>1 
\^\ 

tf R EPE AL. 

Repeal ! Irish Repeal ! O'Connell and the Irish Catholics ! Eman- 
cipation for Ireland. The Queen ! The Pope ! Irish Independence I 
O'Connell and Sedition ! The Arrest of the Liberator ! The Conspi- 
racy crushed. "If O'Connell suffers, Peel dies !" Another grand rally 
for old Ireland ! Slavery and the President of the United States ! 
His Holiness the Pope, and the degraded American people who give 
countenance to slavery ! 

These are a few of the watchwords of the times, that strike upon the 
ear of an American patriot, in the middle of the 19th century ! The 
sounds are strange. They strike us with surprise. Nay, they appal 
us with apprehension. The Pope ! the Queen ! Irish Catholics and 
African slavery ! What a cluster of ill-assorted associations, to be 
wound up with the name of Daniel O'Connell, Sedition, Conspiracy, and 
Arrest ! Do we really live in the middle of the 19th century ? Are 
we truly awake, or is all this a frightful dream? Is this the chosen 
land of liberty ? Was it here, that the rights of man were erected oil 
a foundation of blood 1 Was it here that Washington said, in the tones 
of a father — "Shun the brawls of Europe?" How is this? The fair 
land of liberty become the battle-ground of kings, tyrants, popes and 
their political myrmidons? Why all this din and turmoil? Is the Re- 
public in danger? Have the monarchs and popes of Europe hired 
wretches to insult us ? Incendiaries to stir us up to riot ? Slanderers to 
defile our freedom ? Monarchists to scold us for slavery — themselves the 
slaves they pity ? Or, have we lost the recollections of liberty, and 
sent to Europe for a supply of royal tutors to instruct us in the rights 
of man ? 

How is this ? We are traduced — abused — insulted. 

And yet the free American has no equal in past history. He can 
dread no superior in the future. He stands forth a sovereign man — > 
such as God made him, invested with all the rights that create power, 
and all the power that prescribes duties. He is his own master. His 
own king. He bends the knee to God only; and neither worships nor 
fears his fellow mortal. If he parts with individual power, it is only to 
entrench his rights by the rampart of law; but never making a total 
surrender of the rights that are essential to the retention and preserva- 
tion of his power. 

In what quarter of the globe do you behold a freeman like the Ameri- 
can ? In what spot of the globe can you discover a people who do not 
bend the knee to a sovereign, or bow their necks to the galling yoke of 
power, contrary to their will, or repulsive to their feelings, destructive 
of their happiness, or pregnant with their degradation ? Imposing bur- 
dens fraught with misery, or exacting duties fatal to content? On 
what charter of monarchy, can you read the sublime lesson of "the rights 
of man ?" In what chapter of an Empire's annals, can you point to the 



inherent and inalienable self sovereignty of the people 7 There is no 
such thing. Learn then, American?, to appreciate your own position. 
Our political, our moral, our intellectual destiny, is that of God's most 
sublime creation. Man the ruler of himself, by the light of reason, not 
the rod of power. We stand apart from, and above all other people. 
Exalted on the pedestal of rights, till they mingle with the light of 
Heaven, showered from the Mercy above, we can proudly say, as we 
proudly feel, that we overlook the world; and challenge a rival to dis- 
pute our achievement of the perfection of human government. Can the 
Pope say as much ? Can O'Connell say it? 

When the watch (ires on our hills, in the glorious struggle of Inde- 
pendence, flashed terror on the legions of kings — they shed the light of 
emancipation on the peasant at his plough, and the smith at his forge. 
The battleaxe that shivered from the British crown its bright Ameri- 
can jewel, also snapt asunder all the manacles that degraded the labor- 
er, as an inferior of the Noble. Equality was the battle cry of Ameri- 
can Independence. The unfurled banner of freedom was inscribed 
with the created equality of its champions, as the breeze bore it on- 
wards to victory, or bathed it in blood. No boon was begged. No 
knee was bowed. No mercy, but that of heaven appealed to. No 
compromise implied. No neutral ground for partial concession left open. 
The Declaration was absolute. Equality — Independence — or, Death. 
The bugle blast of our raw legions, rang with wild melody along our 
forest hills, as a chorus to the shouts of Freemen, who had renounced 
monarchy forever: — its pomp, its pageantry, its follies, and its crimes. — 
To look once upon our broad expanse of untamed nature, our beetling 
mountains, our blossomed valleys, our fertile hills and teeming plains, 
was to imbibe from the very bosom of a mother, the divine instinct 
that made us spurn a master — a monarch — a king— a crown. The 
very elements that hymned the tempest on our hills, cried death to 
tyranny. It was the Genius of a New World, chaunting the incanta- 
tion of freedom. It was the spirit of holy nature, spurning the mum- 
mery o( forms, which had degraded, enslaved, and brutified the intel- 
lect of God's creatures, to the lusts of man's tyrants. Every valley was 
peopled by the victims of royal bigotry. Every legion was nerved by 
an arm, that had felt the scourge of that power, which uniting church 
and state, had dared to say to the revolting conscience, "be this your 
worship." The idols of superstition — the altars of power — the penal- 
ties of law — the mandates of state authority — one, or all, had fallen 
sorely on the smarting spirits of our revolted Fathers. On one hand, 
nature beckoned them to freedom; on the other, power goaded them 
to revolution; and they achieved the rights of man. 

To claim affinity to the sublime fabric of American Freedom, has 
"been the ambition of many nations, who could never rise even to a con- 
ception of its principles. The French Revolution of 1793, is entombed 
in human execration. It arose as the day-star of political redemption, 
but passed away like a burning comet, destroying every noble associa- 
tion, every pure and generous feeling. The three days of July have giv- 
en to France the choice of a king, imposed by the necessity of a feudal 



principle — making tyranny more galling by a deception that gilds it 
with false colors. Spain has had her insurrections; Italy her plots; Por- 
tugal her civil wars; Greece her struggles; but the end of all is — the 
rule of a King — the Divine right of a Monarch — the Union of Church 
and State — the consolidation of despotism, and the enlargement of roy- 
al power. Convulsion may rock the world — Rebellion strew the earth 
with the dead — Plots stain the scaffold with blood— Conspiracy shake 
tyrants with fear — but still the end is the same — all is chaos. And 
when the howling storm has passed, we behold the throne shining in 
full effulgence, secure in its power, and the king untouched, with mil- 
lions of slaves crouching at his feet ! This has been the end of all re- 
volutions but our own ! Why is it so? Because no principle guides 
the arm of European Revolution. Because Demagogues lead, and 
Factions only contend for rule. Because the struggle is not for the 
rights of 7?ki?2, but for the power of Kings. Which Dynasty shall 
reign? Which branch of a rotten line of Monarchs, void alike of in- 
tellect and virtue, shall plunder, oppress, bleed, torture, persecute and 
degrade their white slaves — the bonded subjects of absolute power — to 
whom God has given the strength of man, but who fetter their own 
souls by submission to a King. 

What is Rebellion, without principle? What a revolution, if not to 
exalt and better the condition of the people? In the choice of masters, 
a free spirit sees no redemption. Struggles not ending in liberty are 
not worth the labour. There is no glory where there is no Equality 
to battle for. Are the rights of man to be the fruit of the struggle? 
Then, indeed, is the contest ennobled by the object ; then, indeed is the 
conflict consecrated to victory, for it seeks to shed upon the people 
the blessings of freedom, which secure them in the enjoyment 
of life, property, and the pursuit of happiness — liberty of con- 
science, and the fruit of their industry, untouched by the rude hand 
of extortion, rapacity and rapine. No taxation without their own con- 
sent. No tithes! No church rates not voluntary. No labour without 
its reward. No power not delegated by the people. This is Liberty. 
All else is counterfeit. A shadow — a delusion — a dream — an impos- 
ture. 

Are you asked to support a monarchy? It is an insult. It im- 
peaches your fidelity to a free Constitution. It invades the very sanc- 
tuary of the rights of man. It degrades your understanding. It ques- 
tions your integrity. It seduces your benevolence. It charges you 
with hypocrisy. It invites you to crime, for all monarchy is crime, or 
the rights of man could not be a virtue. 

The name of Liberty has been abused in all ages — prostituted in 
all countries — adopted as a battle-cry, even by Kings and their myr- 
mydoms, as well as Demagogues, and Leaders of the blind popu- 
lace. Like Virtue, the name has a charm, which tempts even vil- 
lainy to ring changes on its melody. "Oh, Liberty! what crimes are 
committed in thy name !" was the exclamation of a noble woman, 
weeping over the desolation of her country by the hands of political 
parricides. 



History teaches us not to be deceived by sounds ! Experience whis- 
pers caution, when Ambition strikes for power. Kings have been 
known to array themselves in the garb of priests to gain their ends, un- 
der the mask of piety : and assassins, to be successful, clothe themselves 
in the gown of the monk ! 

The shouts of Repeal come booming on our startled ears, over the 
bosom of (he waters, till they find a thousand echoes on the American 
shore, which sends back the sound to startle Europe with the uproar. 
Irish Repeal ' — the repeal of the Union of Ireland with her two sister 
kingdoms, is the cry of a distant clime by foreign monarchists — re- 
echoed on our Republican shores, till from hill to hill, the sounds borne 
on the distant breeze, spread far throughout the land, wakening the 
loud response from mountain, lake and glen. The shout gathers thou- 
sands to the banner. Myriads flock around the man who stands forth 
the champion of this grand revolution, as if the fate of nations depended 
upon the issue. Men muster in legions, morning, noon and night. Agi- 
tation is the pass-word. Repeal rings through our ears with a deafening 
clamour. Orators vociferate harangues to the people, and demagogues 
swell the tide of infatuation. Ireland kindles to a flame of excitement, 
which, without ending in the horrors of civil war, stands without parallel 
in history. The whole land quakes beneath the tread of her repealers. 
Money is collected; men marshalled; sympathy appealed to. Yet no 
brawl ensues. On and onward sweep the surges of the social movement. 
Still no war takes place. It is, cry the minions of the Pope, a moral 
Revolution ! Behold the weapons of Repeal — the tongue of the orator 
— the piety of the Pope — the purse of the tribute-monger ! the banquet 
of the managers ! the dinner! the supper! the carousal! the speech! and 
the field-meeting ! But is this all? No! Behind the curtain, we be- 
hold the triple-crowned head of the Pope of Rome! the monarchy of 
Great Britain ; the throneof the Queen ; the spectral phantoms of super- 
stition, raised from the sleep of ages, to be dyed afresh in the blood of its 
victims; the union of Church and State; the religion of force, imposed 
by the civil power ; the penalty of heresy, and the head as the penalty ! 

But let us examine this stupendous question, whose noise drowns rea- 
son, bewilders judgment, inflames the passions, and empties the pockets 
of its deluded votaries. What are the merits of Repeal? Are they 
consistent with free principles? Do they become a Democratic people 
to advocate? Is it compatible with the pacific relations existing be- 
tween this nation and a power to whom we are bound by the most sa- 
cred ties of treaty stipulations? Before I analyze its elements, let us 
hear the plausible arguments by which its popular champions recom- 
mend it to American sympathy. It is said to be a struggle for Indepen- 
dence. Is this true? And what sort of Independence is meant, if true? 
Does it mean Independence based on the rights of man? No! It is a 
struggle of the subjects of a monarchy to obtain an Irish Parliament, 
over which the English monarch is to hold sway. O'Connell, the 
leader of the Irish people, avows his unalterable loyalty, with his knees 
glued to the foot of the throne, and his hands outstretched in adoration 
of the Pope! What Independence is this? Not the Independence of 



Freedom ! — not the Independence which flows from the rights of man, 
and spurns a foreign yoke, whose galling weight burns into the flesh of 
the doomed slave ! No ! It is the Independence only of the Reforma- 
tion of Luther ! It is to shake oiF the sunbeams of Intellect, Science, 
and Education, which the magic power of the Art of Printing is show- 
ering upon the hitherto benighted sons of Erin. It is to cut off the mo- 
ral restraints of Reason, Temperance, Religion, and Law. It is to re- 
trograde into the gloom of the Dark Ages, and plant oppression, bigotry 
and fiery persecution, at the door of Virtue and Industry, as the senti- 
nels of Power. 

Shame, then, unbounded and eternal shame, to the sophists and 
demagogues who would compare such an Independence with our own 
glorious struggle of 1776 ! In what feature do they bear a resemblance? 
Did our fathers struggle to hold on to the monarchy'? Was Washing- 
ton an O'Connell? Did he avow himself a monarchist? Did he beg 
money of the people, and confine his struggles for his country to words? 
Did Washington quote the declaration of the Pope, or the laws of God 
and the rights of man ? Did Washington feast, while his followers 
starved? How, then, can American Independence resemble Irish Re- 
peal? Did our fathers petition for Repeal ? No! After their decla- 
ration, they fought man to man, hand to hand, knee deep in carnage, 
for absolute, unqualified, glorious Liberty. Not to fetter men to Church 
and State Domination, but to free them. Not to degrade, but to exalt 
them. Not to plunge them in ignorance, but to usher them into light, 
knowledge, science, wisdom. 

Shade of the Immortal Founder of our great Republic, look down 
with a forgiving eye upon the profanation of thy pure name, in an un- 
worthy connexion! — made with no ungracious view! 

Suppose the Repeal of the Union achieved to-morrow? What 
would be the effect? Would Ireland be less under the dominion of 
Monarchy? No! She would still hold allegiance to the Crown of Eng- 
land. O'Connell declares this to be a point of honor. It would most 
certainly be a point of necessity. The tremendous physical resources 
of England, could crush and overwhelm her in a week. But if Repeal 
did succeed, what then? A Republic is not dreamed of — O'Connell 
hates all Republics. Would the monarchy of England, be less a mon- 
archy, because an Irish Parliament enacted the laws, that an Imperi- 
al Parliament now enact? 

Looking to the repeal movement, then, as a substantive scheme, it is 
nugatory, absurd, wicked. As a substantive scheme it means nothing. 
O'Connell never designs its consummation. Yet he is too sagacious 
not to mean something. Familiar with the generous ardour of Irish 
hearts, this cunning demagogue, has made the repeal of the Irish Union, 
the means of concentrating a religious and political power, unsurpassed 
in the history of the world. A scheme, which in the hands of the Pope 
himself would prove abortive. A scheme, which attempted by Priests, 
would be exploded amidst shouts of execration. A scheme that kings 
and cabinets would shrink from — but which, in the hands of an arch 



ft 

demagogue, may prove successful, by eluding popular vigilance, under 
the cieak of political reform. 

The world swarms with dupes courting deception, as it abounds with 
charlatans practiced in the arts of imposture. Pity for the one, and 
contempt for the other, are the common feelings excited by the ordi- 
nary acts of false hearted demagogues. 

There is a sublimity in Irish suffering, which claims exemption from 
deceit. The virtuous credulity of a land of patriots — the enthusiasm 
of the sons of Ireland for liberty, scattered as they are over the civil- 
ized world, ought to have extorted respect, even from the selfish and 
designing "O'Connell." Shame ought to have held his hand from prac- 
tising on feelings rendered sacred by ages of thraldom! Intense sensi- 
bility is the effect of long suffering; and if the Irish bosom throbs with a 
warmer gush of feeling, and leaps with a more bounding spirit, at the 
thought of liberty, it is because it has been most oppressed, most abus- 
ed, enslaved and trampled on. There is a tear for the wrongs of Ire- 
land in every virtuous eye. A sigh in every noble bosom. But there 
is no balm for her wrongs in "-Repeal!" There is no succour for her 
woes, in the schemes of an O'Connell. Ireland! Who would not raise a 
voice for Ireland? Who would not strike a blow for Ireland! Who 
would not commiserate her sufferings? Who would not combat for her 
rights? 

But O'Connell is not Ireland. Repeal is not the remedy for her 
wrongs. What Ireland was before the Union, we all know. Why 
she embraced the Union, is matter of History. Torn by licentious Fac- 
tions—distracted by domestic brawls — a prey to the Vultures of Party, 
and the rapacity of her own servants— she embraced the Union as men 
fly for shelter, in a storm, to some friendly roof, or hospitable dome. 
She had tried War! Rebellion! Revolution! Societies of United Irish- 
men, sworn to perish on the field, to suffer on the scaffold, or triumph 
in their glory! In vain she struggled to shake off the fatal incubus of 
bondage. Treachery beset her — defection enfeebled — corruption be- 
trayed her. In battle, Treason fled with her Banners! In Conspira- 
cies, Perjury betrayed her to the Block! Why did she fail? Why 
was the noble Victim, still dragged back to be chained to the Chariot 
Wheels of her proud conqueror; biting the dust of humiliation! — covered 
with the blood of persecution? The more enslaved — the more she strug- 
gled? 

Why did she fail? For want of moral power. Why is she now abused 
by the pageant, the worse than idle, the wicked pageant of Repeal? — 
wicked, because pregnant with blood and misery. 

For want of moral power. 

The vital element of liberty is knowledge— education, science, virtue, 
industry, temperance; the virtues of the heart blended with the powers 
of the mind: it is these that constitute moral power. 

The machinery that elevates a people to freedom and independence 
is not the mouth of a demagogue, but moral power. No country can 
fee enslaved — no people degraded, who possess this tremendous lever of 
Public Opinion. Nothing but vice and ignorance permit tyrants to place 



fetters on the mass of men. Vice is always helpless — ignorance always 
pusillanimous, and most apt to be depraved. If the eye wanders to bar- 
barous climes, what does it behold? Are the people ignorant? Then 
be sure they are enslaved. Are they vicious? Then be sure they are 
ignorant. Look towards the fair clime of classic Italy, even to the 
very Temples where Titus triumphed, and Vespasian ruled. What do 
you behold? Ignorance, vice, and tyranny. The descendants of 
Brutus in love with the manacles bound around their limbs by the 
slimy hands of cold superstition. Turn your eyes towards Spain, and 
what spectacles of despotism blast them by the realities of blood, civil 
war, social rage, desolating vice and consuming ignorance ! Does not 
your soul sicken at this wretched array of the degeneracy of man? — 
If not — look once more and behold Portugal,— where Superstition has 
done her worst; where ignorance lies in abject servitude upon banks of 
flowers; where licentiousness riots without a curb; where assassination 
stalks in broad day, fearless of law, and confident of the sanctuary of 
the church ! Here let us pause. Let Russia have her sway over 
minds in midnight darkness wrapt, and manners steeped in moral pu- 
trescence, worse than the plague. Let Austria twinkle in the dubious 
light of dawning knowledge. Enough is seen to show us, that where 
superstition holds her sway — where papal tyranny locks and unlocks 
the souls of men, to suit her selfish ends, — moral power dwells not. — 
The flame tha.t kindles from the virtues of the heart, to consume the 
thrones of tyrants, never burns where altars blaze to idols and edicts 
extinguish science. 

Once more — why has Ireland always failed in her genuine struggles 
for Emancipation? The fate of Italy, Spain, Portugal answer the 
question in tones that wring the bosom of benevolence with anguish, 
and torture the heart of the patriot with agony. 

Once more — why k Ireland deficient in moral power ? Because Papal 
superstition wraps her form within its fatal folds. 

Religion, as its falls from Heaven, in its purity, blessing all around, 
is sacred, holy, inviolable. I bow, and with deep awe, to every sigh of 
piety, every form of worship, every creed of belief, every tenet, every 
feeling, every passion, every prejudice which touches the heart with 
the unction of true religion. Sacred be its throbs ; yes, sacred be even 
the frailties of Faith, that pours balm into the wounded spirit, or flashes 
light, through the passage of the tomb, to lead to immortality. Reli- 
gion, in itself \s a right not to be questioned. Liberty of conscience, 
is the privilege we claim for all men. 

But when Religion stalks into the political arena — when it proudly 
ascends the throne — when it firmly grasps the sceptre — when it thun- 
ders forth edicts and blends temporal with spiritual power! — then it 
challenges temporal scrutiny, rouses opposition, and justifies resistance. 
At 6uch a crisis, the rights of man tremble on the precipice of Power. 
At such a crisis, Liberty shrieks in her efforts to preserve existence. — 
The very breath of religious government, uniting the baneful power 
of political energy with the control of the human conscience, is death 
to Freedom ! Where it sways the sceptre, the very breath of Heaven 

2 



10 

comes loaded with the poison of degeneracy, bondage, imbecility, idiocy. 
It taints the very blood and dries up the marrow of man. It breeds 
Fear ! And what great achievement or moral grandeur was ever ac- 
complished by a people spell-bound by Fear? Look at the abject sub- 
jects — no, not subjects — the abject slaves of the Pope. Enter the Es- 
curiel — behold Spain! What are Spaniards? — under the union of 
Church and State — the Church of Rome, the Stale of Monarchy. What 
is Ireland? What hand holds down the Irish Catholic's head to the 
ground, till he faints for want of power — moral power? — till all his 
throbs of manhood are hushed in the "mass" of the chapel — in the 
Bulls of the Pope — in the ignorance of the system, which shuts out light 
till the victim of darkness grows stone-blind ! And being thus shrouded 
in the darkness of Papal ignorance, the Arch Demagogue, O'Connell, 
approaches, to tell him his head is held down by the Saxon monarch? 
Strike for Repeal, cries O'Connell, and your are free! Poor victim of 
delusion! He believes the Arch Demagogue, — he struggles to rise,—- 
behold him in his convulsions ! Dead to the glorious calls of his country 
— dead to the immortal breathings of true Freedom ; which call on him 
to rise in the majesty of the power and might of man, and be what God 
designed — not a slave, but a free agent; not a dupe to O'Connell or a 
slave to the Pope, but a man ! A man in the true sense of the term ; 
holding his faculties at his own disposal, looking with his own eyes, feel- 
ing with his own reason. Inquiring, comparing, judging for himself. — 
An intelligent man ; a responsible man. Ireland ought to boast of such 
sons. She ought to boast of heroes, not dupes. God made the Irish 
all that man ought to be. But man has made them all that is the re- 
verse of manhood. Man ! did I say? It is Church power that has de- 
graded him. God made the Irish an ornament to human nature. Pa- 
pal Tyranny has made them all that enthralls, degrades and dispirits 
them; all that makes wit useless, perception null, judgment wrong, and 
enthusiasm mischievous; all that renders genius abortive, gallantry of 
no avail, and imagination a curse, unless transplanted to a soil where 
the upas of Papal power does not spread its poison. Then, indeed, Irish 
genius blazes with a heavenly flame. Plant the Irishman on any soil 
not poisoned by the temporal or spiritual power of the Pope, and be- 
hold how he flourishes. See Burke in London ! Sheridan in his coat of 
forensic mail, cleaving the golden casque of the Robber of India ! Turn 
to the bower of the muses, and weep and laugh by turns, over the racy 
wit, rich humour and deep pathos of Goldsmith! Or, let us ascend the 
plains of Abraham, at Quebec, and behold the glorious end of the brave 
Montgomery ! Or last, not least, hie ye to the Parliament House of 
Britain, and behold a Wellington, in the House of Lords ! A States- 
man ! A Soldier! A Hero! Wellington the Invincible! The Pacificator 
of the World ! The Conqueror of Napoleon ! 

Genius and Ireland are but two names to denote the same thing; but 
Ireland and Popery are two deadening influences always fatal to her 
genius. Why, oh! why, will men hug to their bosoms the slimy ser- 
pent whose cold embrace is— death ? Why, oh ! Ireland, do you not 
*ise like a disenthralled spirit, from the tomb of superstition, regenera- 



11 

ted, vigorous, pure, manly ! Casting off the fetters of an Iron Church, 
which crushes thought, tramples out the sparks of emulation from the 
glowing mind, and scatters ignorance, as well as indolence, throughout 
thy Heaven-blest land? Awake! — benighted, deluded, enslaved men ! 
— awake to the glorious liberty of mind ! Fulfil your destiny of great- 
ness ! Look upon the American People ! Slandered by your Arch 
Deceiver !— abused, villified, insulted ! Look upon them, proud and 
erect in the God-like attitude of the rights of man, scorning and tramp 
ling under their feet the tyrannous power of Church and State! Look 
upon them who hold the Pope to be a rank usurper on the rights of 
man — a wanton violator of the laws of God ! Look upon them, and 
say : — Could they have acquired Liberty and Independence, had they 
been the white slaves of his holiness, the Pope? Think you the Decla- 
ration of American Independence would ever have seen the light, or 
its consummation ever have blazed through the world, if Thomas Jef- 
ferson had been an emissary of his Holiness, or George Washington 
had been a Daniel O'Connel ? 

Start not at this question. It is one suggested by common sense. 
American Independence was the work of a little band of patriots, not 
one fifth the number of the population of Ireland. They, too, were op- 
pressed by the persecutions of power, bigotry, and the unholy combina- 
tion of Church and State. But they were not slaves to Papal power. 
They boasted "liberty of conscience," which to obtain and preserve, 
had driven them to horde with the untamed savage; and to battle to 
the death, with royal troops armed by the hand of monarchy to scourge 
rebellion. 

Had this little American band, a handful of men compared to Ire- 
land's overflowing population, been Roman Catholics, under the guid- 
ance of the Pope, what would have been their fate ? Instead of a 
great Washington, some O'Connell would have sprung up among us, 
with a beggar's bag in his hand, asking for an Independence Fund ! He 
would have mounted logs, casks, and market stalls, making glorious 
speeches to the members of an " Independence Association ;" with three 
cheers for liberty, followed by a rich repast, an elegant dinner, a sump- 
tuous supper, or a splendid entertainment, where another speech would 
wind up the day's labor, exhorting the people to send on the Rent, and 
not let the ''Liberator" starve. This would have been the farce of 
one day. And what the stage-play of another ? Why, the "Associa- 
tion of Liberty," would assemble in the Hall of Independence : adopt a 
])etition to her most gracious majesty; indite a missive to his holiness, 
the Pope; read the correspondence of the friends of America from dis- 
tant climes, remitting their shillings and pence to support the orators of 
freedom. Then pass a resolution, unanimously, never to disturb the 
peace ; never to fire a rifle ; never to draw a sword ; never to handle a 
pitchfork ! But to depend on the gracious clemency of her most gra- 
cious majesty, to accord us the boon of Independence, as a consequence 
of our resolving never to fight for it ! 

This may appear like a picture drawn in the sportive spirit of ridi- 
cule. Is it so? No ! I merely state what would have been the facts 



12 

and the fate of American Independence in the hands of Irish Catho- 
lics, whose souls were bound down in Papal subjection, and who had 
no knowledge of right or wrong, but from the lips of a selfish dema- 
gogue, who, living on the hopes and fears of his countrymen, became 
the Public Pauper of credulous Patriots — keeping alive those hopes, 
and exciting those fears, as a means of popular extortion, to further the 
peace/id cause of American Independence ! 

The tremendous extent of Papal Power admits of no personal liber- 
ty. Would his Holiness ever have consented to the Declaration of 
American Independence, which proclaims "all men created free and 
equal?" which levels the Pope himself to the Beggar? Would he have 
permitted it to go to the world that all men possess an inalienable right 
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; to enjoy liberty of con- 
science ; to be secure in their houses and persons ; and to pay none but 
an equal and equitable tax — and free from all support of a Church 
Establishment? Never ! Thus it is, then, with unhappy ill-fated, Ire- 
land. She has bound herself to the Iron Wheels of Romish Supersti- 
tion — she cries out "Liberty " but she means bondage ! O'Connell, the 
King and Pope Leader of her delusion, joins in full chorus to the cry; 
but while the word "Liberty" escapes from his mouth, he draws from 
his pocket and reads a missive or a Bull from the Pope, granting the 
gracious permission of his Holiness, for Irish Catholics to oppose African 
Slavery ! 

Now common sense would here ask the question, why not abolish 
Roman Catholic Slavery first? Why does not the Pope grant his 
permission to emancipate Irish Catholics? To make them Freemen in- 
deed? Is it a bar to liberty that a man has a white or red skin? But 
says the Irish Catholic, we are free i Then what do you mean by the 
Liberty and Independence of Repeal? Are you free? Think well of 
the proposition. Are you a Monarchist? Yes! O'Connell and all his 
Band of Repealers, are the subjects of a Monarch ! Then they are not 
free. They cannot exercise the glorious rights of man ! O'Connell and 
his Band of Repealers owe fealty to Church and State. Then they are 
not free. O'Connell and his Band of Repealers owe allegiance to the 
Pope. Then they are not free. The Pope's permission is the whole 
length of O'Connell's rope of Liberty. This is the chain of poor Ire- 
land's Liberty ! O'Connell is tied to the political stake of Papal Pow- 
er, and he dances round it, like some wild animal, to the extent of his 
chain; and this chain he winds around the souls and bodies of his follow- 
ers, and calls it "Liberty." 

"Oh ! sacred Freedom, how is thy name abused !" I have said Re- 
peal means nothing as a substantive and distinct measure. I have said 
O'Connell never means to consummate Repeal, even if he could. 1 
have said Repeal is deceptive, illusory, futile. I have said O'Connell 
makes use of it merely as a screen to ulterior objects, hanging the ad- 
vancement of the Papal power of Rome on the wheels of Irish enthu- 
siasm for Political Liberty. That his ulterior views reach to Roman 
Catholic Ascendancy throughout the world — not Liberty and Emanci- 
pation to Ireland. That his immense machinery ^of Repeal Associations 



13 

aim at Religious objects exclusively, not the civil and political rights of 
the Irish people. In part I have already demonstrated this fact, but 
in part only. I now come to his grand demonstration of Papal power 
upon the question of Slavery in the United States, as a political en- 
gine by which to extend the spiritual and temporal domination of Rome. 

Here the cloven foot of the Pope's Emissary protrudes from the gown 
of the Patriot Orator. Saian stands revealed! Let us look this mat- 
ter in the face, as becomes men gifted with common discernment. — 
What real connexion subsists in any possible relation or contingency, 
between Irish Repeal and African Slavery? Slavery not over the 
world, even, but slavery in the United States? This question is impor- 
tant. It decides the sincerity, or exposes the duplicity, hypocrisy and 
charlatanism of O'Connell ! 

How can Slavery in the United States influence Irish Repeal? Is it 
a question between slaves and their masters? Is it a question which, 
on any principle of analogy, can affect the liberties of the Irish Catho- 
lic? No ! Is the Irish Catholic held to servile labour, by a master 
who can sell him to another owner? No! Is there any principle of 
analogy in freedom which can extend to the Irish Catholic? I can see 
none! Has England made it a condition of Irish Repeal that O'Con- 
nell shall first succeed in procuring the emancipation of the slaves in 
the United States? No! For O'Connell tells the Irish Catholics him- 
self, that they are bound by "the Pope's denunciation of the abomina- 
ble crime." Not by the mandate of the English Throne. High au- 
thority, then, that of the Arch Demagogue himself, stamps this ques- 
tion of African Slavery, as having nothing more to do with Repeal, but 
that the Pope denounces the one and applauds the other. African 
Slavery in the United States, and the Repeal of a Political Union be- 
tween England, Scotland and Ireland ! The antipodes are not more 
remote. But they are brought together by O'Connell, as giving impe- 
rious force to the Bulls of the Pope ! The Pope denounces slavery in 
the United States. You must do the same, as faithful subjects of his 
Holiness. The Pope espouses Repeal. You must do the same, as pious 
members of the great Romish Church. There is, then, no other con- 
nexion between the two questions but a religious one, combining the 
power of Church and State ; and these are urged by O'Connell as im- 
perative — omnipotent — irresistible! For what object? Not to expe- 
dite Repeal ! No ! It cannot do that ! But to bind down the soul of 
the Irish Catholic to the implicit obedience of the mandate of the 
Pope in matters of a character purely temporal and political. Touch- 
ing State affairs — not affairs of the Church! Assailing our Constitution. 
Denouncing our Institutions. Defaming our reputation. Impeaching 
our love of Liberty. Reviling the true American, as an unfit compa- 
nion for the Irish Catholic ! 

Gracious and just Heaven ! was ever wrong so monstrous 1 Was 
insolence ever so unmeasured ? Was wickedness and hypocrisy ever 
before so bold ? O'Connell, the slave of a king, denouncing Ame- 
ricans as unfit to associate with Irish Catholics ! O'Connell, the slave 
and devotee of the Pope of Rome, reviling the Sons of Washington, as 



14 

unfit to be in the same council chamber with the subjects of a king, 
blind in understanding and filled with idolatry ! Monarchists, the su- 
periors of Republicans ! — wanton, insolent slander ! 

Whence the right of the Pope thus to interfere in American Sla- 
very ? How dare O'Connell profane our Republican Institutions by 
his deceitful and polluting touch ? What is "American Slavery" to 
Rome? What is it to Ireland? On what ground of principle, or 
of sympathy, dare either the one or the other to make allusion 
to the subject of slavery ? There can exist no pnnciple of Freedom, 
on which the Slaveholder of White Idolaters, or his Champion, 
O'Connell, can ask the liberation of the African, whose condition, in 
comparison to his enlightenment, is freedom itself, in contrast to the 
servile state of the subjects of the Pope. There can exist no sym- 
pathy between O'Connell and African Slaves, if he is sincere in his 
desire, and aims to emancipate the Irish Catholics. If he looks well 
into their condition — physical, moral and religious — he will find more 
than enough to absorb all his acute sympathies for the slave of Mon- 
archy — the slave of Indolence — the slave of Intemperance — the slave 
of Papal darkness and of Papal power. 

In the honest prosecution of Repeal, this pragmatical interference 
in "American Slavery'' never could occur. For this reason, I adduce 
it as one of the most conclusive proofs of WConneWs hypocrisy. He 
means no Irish Repeal of the Union. He intends no Repeal. 

What then does he mean? What is his ulterior object? I an- 
swer, and I mean to convict him of it — the extension of the Papal Au- 
thority and Power over the United States. A combined political and 
religious Papal influence, extending to the Ballot Box, and running out 
into all our social relations with a secret, potent, and all-commanding 
mastery ! The audacity, the atrocity, of this nefarious plot to de- 
bauch and contaminate the Institutions of a Free Country, three thou- 
sand miles distant, as the instrument by which Papal Power is to 
reconduct the human understanding back to the gloomy caverns of the 
Dark Ages, might well excite the smile of incredulity, but that it 
comes before our eyes, solemnly attested by the sign manual of the 
Pope's Agitator himself. Assuming the authority of a Potentate over 
his slaves — arrogating the tone and state of the King of the Irish 
Catholics — O'Connell dates his proclamations from the Corn Exchange 
Rooms, Dublin, under the pompous title of "Loyal National Repeal 
Association." In his Edict of Papal Authority, of Oct. 11th, '43, I 
find this passage : — 

"You should do all in your power to carry out the pious intentions of 
his Holiness, the Pope !" This is followed by an injunction, capping 
the climax to his daring intrusion of Papal Interests in the United 
States, and placing the seal of confirmation upon his black conspiracy 
to degrade us into the vassals of the Church of Rome. These are the 
emphatic words of O'Connell, addressed to the Irish Catholics in the 
United States. Let them sink deep into your hearts. Engrave them 
indelibly on your minds, for your children's blood may yet prove the 
only element powerful enough to wash out the stain, or root out the 



15 

evil " Where you have the Electoral Franchise, give your votes to 
none but those who will assist you in so holy a struggle !" These are 
the solemn words of Daniel O'Connell. What struggle ? The 
strugggle of carrying out the pious intentions of his Holiness the Pope ! 
The application is his own. 

The American Ballot Box, then, is to be the battleground of Eu- 
ropean Monarchy and Papal Superstition, to vanquish our Republican 
Institutions, and organize a Party in Political Power, in favor of the in- 
tentions of the Pope! Tired out in their eflorts to subdue us by open 
force — wearied of all belligerent struggles in which we ever caused 
their mailed legions to bite the dust, beneath the lion blows of naked 
valour, fresh from the mountain air, and free from art or discipline: — 
the Monarchs of Europe, now plot to assail us through the right of suf- 
frage! The Irish Catholic vote is to be organized to overthrow Ame- 
rican Liberty. The extensive ramifications of Repeal Clubs, have 
suddenly become affiliated societies, to carry out the intentions of his 
holiness the Pope! The gauze veil of Repeal is thrown aside. The 
scheme is perfect. The organization complete. The Plot consummat- 
ed. Societies under the control of O'Connell, swarm in every quarter 
of the Union. They hum and buzz like the locusts of Egypt. The Pope 
is no longer the Actor on the Stage, from which popular indignation 
drove him, but the manager behind the scenes; O'Connell, is his puppet. 
Rome on this occasion is no longer the head-quarters of Bulls. The 
scene is changed, but the tragedy is the same. Dublin is the selected 
and chosen spot, whence this New Legate of his Holiness, fulminates his 
Decrees. "1 Daniel, dictator of the Irish Catholic Vote in the Uni- 
ted States of N. America, Legate of the Pope, known as the Agitator 
of Repeal." Thus runs the real title of this renowned hypocrite; who 
has surpassed the Jesuits in his mastery of political power, through the 
organization of "Repeal Associations,^ now converted into nests of 
Papacy. "The Society of Jesus," the Propogandists of Rome, the exten- 
sive affiliations of their society, were comparatively harmless because 
undisguised. The blaze of intelligence that broke upon the world, 
drove back to their cloistered dens, and Monkish Caverns, the declared 
and avowed Emissaries of the Pope. Light, intelligence, reason, ex- 
posed them. The flames of Liberty blasted and consumed them. The 
abuse of their power to their own ambition and lusts, crushed 
them. The united execration of the world, sealed by the fears of 
kings, who trembled while they confessed to their treacherous power, 
annulled them. Even Papal Infallibility quailed at the outcry of an- 
guish, and the thunder of indignation, which demanded their dissolu- 
tion, and he dissolved them. Yet were the Jesuists harmless, when 
placed in contrast with O'Connell and his societies of Papal Repeal. 
O'Connell, whose diabolical intentions of consolidated political power 
are covered under the specious pretexts of Ireland's Emancipation. 
Whose Bands are marshalled and enrolled as political patriots, not 
Priestly Propagandists. Whose designs are the same, or worse; — but 
whose disguise renders them more dangerous, because less suspected. 
The Incendinary in the cloak of the Patriot, will pass for a Patriot un- 



16 

til the Impostor stands exposed, by revealing his false intentions. Thou- 
sands who believed O'Connell a Patriot, anterior to his Proclamation of 
the 11th of October, now recoil from his touch with horror and conster- 
nation, as the Emissary of the Pope, whose design is the overthrow of 
American Liberty! Whose sole and single aim is the political ascend- 
ancy of Irish Catholics in the American Government. Who can doubt 
this? O'Connell declares it! Not his words only but his deeds confirm 
it! Look at his immense machinery of Repeal Associations! Behold 
his extensive array of societies. Count up the hundreds of thousands, 
perhaps millions, of dollars contributed to his Rent bag. Repeal wants 
no such aids. This is not a moral force of opinion, which could move 
a British Monarch to dissolve the allegiance of eight millions of sub- 
jects. No — it is not the machinery of Repeal. It is not the organ of 
Liberty. It stands forth, bleak, and black, and blasted, as the giant 
machine of Infernal Despotism! 

At an object so monstrous, so appalling, so hideous, as the possible 
overthrow of American Freedom, what bosom so callous, what heart so 
impenetrable, as not to throb and burn into an emotion of horror ! 
This, the last Asylum of Liberty ! This, the only res ling-place for 
the hunted wanderer of the earth ! This, the last hope of philan- 
thropy ! This, the wide, unbounded, trackless home of persecuted 
mankind ! What ! Destroy this? Take away the only refuge for 
the weary of spirit— the broken down of fortune — the lacerated of 
heart — the persecuted of tyrants? Where, when the outcast, leaping 
from his frail barque, the tears of joy gush from his overcharged heart, 
to think he has at last escaped the fangs of the bloody Tyrant, 
who tracked him to the very margin of his covert! No! oh, no! 
This cannot be. The scorching bosom of an ambitious despot, might, 
in his madness, plot such an unholy sacrifice of the World's last 
home, but who would consummate it? O'Connell — the Pope! A 
King might plot this horrible devastation of the sacred rights of man- 
kind ; but surely no true son of old Ireland would say "Amen" to such 
a murder! — the murder of Liberty in her sleep — the murder of the 
Angel who guards this, the last earthly Paradise of man! — the confla- 
gration of the great Temple, in which all the world are called to pay 
homage to virtue, peace, happiness, content ! No! there can be found 
no Irish heart, capable of so base a crime. The Irish Catholic could 
not apply the torch to fire the dwelling where his little smiling, prat- 
tling babe, is hymned to its sweet slumbers by the sweeter melodies of 
Freedom. No ! the very Angels of Heaven would strike down their 
parricidal hands, should they attempt the damning act ! 

The assassin who crawls to his death deed, the hypocrite who con- 
ceals his wicked purpose beneath the fair exterior of virtue, or the 
soft sentiments of benevolence, loses more of the character of manhood 
in his meanness, than in his crime. O'Connell, abject and base, in 
addition to his villainy, affects sympathy for the American slave. How 
does he show it ? Does he apply any of the Rent of his Repeal Bags 
towards their emancipation? No! His object is political power, not 
African Emancipation. His feeling is political ambition, not the soft 



It 

influences of philanthropy. He howls against slaveholders, but it 
is not to alleviate the sufferings of the slave — assuage his toils, or min- 
ister to his wants — but to "carry out the intentions of the Pope" — to 
consolidate the votes of the Irish Catholics in the Ballot Boxes ! The 
idea is preposterous, that Daniel O'Connell, the man who robs the poor 
of his own country, to pander to his idleness, could feci pity for a col- 
ored slave, or shed a tear over the wounds of his galling fetters! 
O'Connell a Philanthropist ! No ! — the Enslaver of Mankind — a Mon- 
archist — a Papist ! — never can feel either for the slaveholder or the 
colored slave ! Curses, both loud and deep, break from the pollu- 
ted lips of O'Connell upon the slaveholder. Why? Because he 
knows the unfortunate proprietor of this unhappy race, never can be 
marshalled under the banners of the Demagogue, to carry out the pious 
intentions of his Holiness. Hatred, deep and bitter, rankles in his 
heart against our Southern States — because they afford no prey for 
the vulture-like rapacity of his Rent Bag. What cares O'Connell for 
the slave, or the master, when neither will stand to be enrolled and 
plucked in the ranks of his Repealers? The incendiary would re- 
joice to behold the flames consume them all — both master and slave. 
Aye ! he would himself apply the torch. Nay, has he not already 
done so ? Has he not already kindled a fire that may wrap our sister 
states of the south in flames, deluge their fair fields with blood, and 
track the whole land with the cinders of desolation? The political 
Demagogue, who uses all instruments for his unholy purposes— "Me 
intentions of the Pope'' — what cares he for human misery ? What 
cares he for the groans, the tears, the despair of homes made desolate, 
of fields made barren, of hearts made hopeless ? The Political Dema- 
gogue ! O ! how can Humanity hold in her grasp the thousand wea- 
pons of abhorrence, scorn, and detestation, without overwhelming the 
viper by the thunders of her denunciation! 

The condition of the slave can never be improved by being made 
the subject of Political Speculation, by the selfish arts of ambition, 
or the more abject motives of avaricious rapacity. Philanthropy, 
anxious to meloriate human suffering, will apply the comforts of 
charitv, to assuage the misery of destitution. Wide and desolate, in- 
deed, is the trackless waste of moral sterility, that separates the man 
of benevolence from the political Charlatan, who borrows his cloak to 
fire the premises of those he feigns to pity, but pants to plunder. 
What an infinite moral desert divides an O'Connell from a William 
Penn ! While we venerate the one, how can we avoid detesting the 
other ! 

But the amelioration, or even abolition of slavery, is not the object 
of O'Connell. Keep this in mind. He works by pretexts. His ulte- 
rior object appears not on the front and face of his doings. This is 
demonstrated by the inconsistency and inadequacy of his means to pro- 
duce the effect proposed. The united poiver of the Irish Catholic 
vote in the Ballot Box, cannot reach what he pretends to aim at — 
the repeal of slavery. This he knows. This, he in fact confesses, 
when he says, that "the States in which slavery obtains, are compe- 



tent to pass laws for its abolishment." True ! but in those States, there 
are few or no Irish Catholics to poll a vote! Slave labour dispossesses 
Irish labour. In the slave States, therefore, he can rally no Irish vote ! 
Knowing this, O'Connell does not mean to meliorate the condition of the 
slave, or accomplish his emancipation. But without this pretext, how 
could he consolidate the Irish Catholic vote, for the ulterior object of 
securing a political ascendancy to the Papal Crozvn ? To avow thi3 
object at the outset, would be to defeat himself, to baffle his own 
schemes? It is as necessary to the success of his struggle in carrying 
out the intentions of the Pope, to affect sympathy for the slave, as it 
was in the beginning to talk about Repeal, in order to disguise hisw//e- 
rior movement on the American Ballot Boxes. To avow either of 
his aims, at first, would have proved political suicide. Without Irish 
Repeal, how could he have organized Popish Clubs? His Repeal Associa- 
tions? To have called them "Papal Associations to promote the ascendan- 
cy of the Church of Rome in the United States," would have crushed his 
plot iu his own hand. In like manner to enjoin the Irish Catholics to a 
consolidated vote, openly proclaimed, to secure the Pope's ascendancy 
here, would also have exploded in his own hand, and scattered in con- 
fusion and dismay, his over zealous bands of political enthusiasts. But 
he goes to work with all the skill of a master of intrigue. He enters 
the Ballot Box, ostensibly, not for the Pope's ascendancy, but Afri- 
can Emancipation. Thus, the whole scheme unravels itself, from 
the very origin of the plot laid by Pope Gregory, in his famous Bull of 
1840, against the Roman Catholic being a slave holder, down to the 
Proclamation of his Emissary, O'Connell, of the 11th October, 1843. 

Who believes Pope Gregory sincere in his famous anti slavery Bull 
any more than O'Connell, in his anti slavery edict? Both find their 
resting-place in the Ballot Boxes of American Republicans! O'Con- 
nell, in his Edict of hypocrisy, makes bold reference to the Bull of 
Pope Gregory, as the fountain of his authority. He avows himself the 
Emissary of the Papal power! He commands the Irish Catholics to 
carry out his pious intentions at the Ballot box, by " voting for none" 
who will not engage in " the struggle." Let it be a struggle. America 
will never tamely surrender her Ballot box to the Bulls of the Pope of 
Rome ! 

The Church of Rome ! Gracious Heaven ! do we live to exhort Ameri- 
cans to beware of the wiles of Popery ! Do we live to hear and to know, 
that a power founded in the degraded enslavement of the human un- 
derstanding, aye, of the human race, has dared to lift its Gorgon head 
of Infallibility in the free clime of this glorious abode of light, know- 
ledge, education, virtue, science and reason? Even so. 

The Bull of Pope Gregory bears on its face the distorted features of 
Ambition. He leaps into the saddle of a popular excitement, with the 
agility of a warrior, falchion in hand, helmet on his crest, and battle 
axe on his saddle bow. He dares all the Christian world to eschew 
African slavery ! In what epoch of Christian History did the Pope of 
Rome ever dry the tear of wretchedness, or unbind the fetters of bond- 



19 

age 7 The simulation of benevolence from that source, the fountain 
of all slavery, is too gross an hypocrisy to be treated with patience. 
If sincere, why not — as I before asked — why not institute Abolition So- 
cieties instead of Repeal Associations? Why not appropriate the con- 
tents of the " Rent Bag" to the emancipation of the colored slave ? mic- 
tion is the test of sincerity. The benevolence of words, contradicted 
by actions, are but the playthings of hypocrites — the tools of impostors. 
What, then, is the plain inference from all this jumble of mouth pa- 
triotism and lip-philanthropy ? Why simply this. Rome wants her 
powers enlarged to the utmost limits of this New World — yet uncursed 
by the contentions of the Bigot — the fires of the Inquisition — the tor- 
tures of State power, inflamed by spiritual vengeance. By direct 
means, she despairs of attaining this darling object, because all men 
revolt from the double thraldom of soul and body — more galling than 
the African's chains — more degrading than the slave's toil. Abolition 
attracted her attention, as a proper vehicle into which she could spring, 
and ride into the favor of the people ! Not that Pope Gregory or Dan. 
O'Connell care a straw whether Africans are bound in fetters, or 
dance, free as the wind, to the merry notes of the melodious banjo ! 
Let Popery triumph through Abolition, and who dare tell his infallible 
Holiness that he has proved false to his pledge, by neglecting to fulfil 
the grand ostensible object of his crusade of popularity ? 

Having thus demonstrated the duplicity of the great " Agitator" of 
Repeal ; having shown his ostensible object not to be his real aim ; hav- 
ing proved the ulterior end of his labours, from his own mouth, to be the 
advancement of Papal domination; having stripped from him the bor- 
rowed plumes of Philanthropy, with which he had clothed the carcase 
of a demagogue, to conceal the deformity of the Pope's emissary ; hav- 
ing shown the object of O'Connell to be identical with that of Pope 
Gregory — the propagation of Roman Catholic opinions, and the con- 
centration of Irish Catholic votes, as a means of wresting this free and 
vast empire into the extension of the Papal authority, I now pause for 
a moment, to ask a simple question, dictated alike by common sense, 
love of country, love of truth, love of humanity. A question which, 
had Pope Gregory asked, or had his college of learned cardinals in- 
formed him on, would have saved his Holiness the trouble of all this 
machinery of Repeal Associations and slavery sympathy. Had O'Con- 
nell, with the natural sagacity peculiar to Irish minds, paused to ask 
the question which I am now about to put, to solve, and to answer, he 
would have been saved the trouble of all that turbid stream of filthy 
scurrility which, with a tact and a taste peculiar to himself, he has 
vomited upon the fair fame of our unsullied, our free, our noble, our 
sublime Republic! Scurrillity uncalled for; abuse unmerited; vitu- 
peration that recoils on the head of the unmanly traducer, who struck 
in the dark, and fell by the force of his own blow. 

What Government first proclaimed the doctrine of African Emanci- 
pation? This is the simple question I propose. Is not this a plain and 
simple question ? 



so 

I answer — the Government of the United Slates!* African Eman- 
cipation had its first seed flung upon the earth from the Declaration 
of American Independence. "All men are free and equal." 

The Federal Constitution of the United States, framed by those acting 
on the same principle, as the Declaration of Independence, contained a 
clause, abolishing' the slave trade at a prospective period. 

This clause is so important that I must quote it word for word — Sec. 
9. P. I, the Constitution ordains — that <l the transmigration, or importa- 
tion of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think pro- 
per to admit (meaning African slaves) shall not be prohibited by the 
Congress prior to the year 1S08, — but a tax, or duty, may be impos- 
ed, not exceeding ten dollars for each person." 

This was the first Proclamation ever made by any Christian Gov- 
ernment — against the slave trade. It bears the early date of the vear 
of our Lord 1789. 

But it did not stand an isolated and theoretical declaration of human 
rights. Congress passed Laws accordingly for its total abolishment; and 
on the 1st day of January, 180S, the slave trade ceased forever in the 
U. States. 

England, after many struggles — much resistance and altercation, fol- 
lowed the example of the U. States! 

France, followed England. 

Spain followed France, with tardy and reluctant steps. Remember 
— the last country to follow our glorious example, was Pope ridden 
Spain! Where was the humanity of the Papal see — then? Did the 
Pope issue his Bull then? Did O'Connell vociferate? No. 

It is no little glory to the American People, that by their Declara- 
tion of Independence, they sowed the seed for the Emancipation of the 
whole African race. This was the work of our great Republic. The 
States individually had no jurisdiction of the question. The Union 
only can regulate trade. The United States, could act only in their 
United, National capacity. The Stales regulate their domestic polity, 
independent of the National Government. The States individually, 
could retain their inherited slaves, or enfranchise them. Some did, 
others did not. The prohibition of the trade, by the nation, left the 
stain to wear itself out by decay, dispersion, or other causes that might 
arise. Man could do no more. 

In this connexion, I may proudly ask, in what Charter of Monarchy 
can the Declaration of human equality be found? Not in the Constitu- 
tion of Popedom! No! His Subjects are double slaves. Not in the 
Magna Charla of England? That is a giant of privileges from the Barons 
to the people, and from the King to the Barons. Not in that of France? 



*The retention of African servitude in the District of Columbia may be supposed 
to militate against this fact; but it must be remembered, that the ten miles square 
(which form the District,) were ceded by the States of Maryland and Virginia, on 
the express stipulation, that slave property, within those limits should remain inviol- 
ably secured. On this condition, the United Slates accepted the cession, and of 
course the Federal Government possess no power to abolish slavery in the District. 
Slavery, therefore, in the District of Columbia, is not a stain on our ?ialional character. 



21 

No! But why extend the enquiry? The principle was never dreamed 
of by the besotted Monarchs of Europe, whose only struggle was to en- 
slave, not to emancipate man. The principle was to be found nowhere, 
but in the words of Christ, which the Pope had carefully locked up in 
the Archives of his Abbeys, Monasteries, Chapels, and Priories, from the 
inspection of the people. Even Luther, great as he was, never dreamed 
that Christ's first principles of Love, would ever form I he corner stone of 
a Great Republican Government ;and lead to the glorious emancipation of 
the whole human race. Yet Luther struck out the first spark. He opened 
the volume of liberty to the eyes of the People. But for him, could 
the truths of the Christian system have spread over the world? Would 
his Holiness the Pope ever have had the tender mercy to tell his 
trembiing slaves, that "all men are created free and equal!" Need 
the question be repeated? Do Infallibility and unlimited Despotism, as 
the creed of Rome, require me to answer it? 

O'Connell, as the Emissary of Pope Gregory, launches the envenom- 
ed shafts of his detraction against the American Slave States, for re- 
taining, in their domestic capacity, the remains of African Bondage, 
bequeathed to them by hisKing — by his English Monarchy. For it is 
an acknowledged fact, that long 'be/ore the Revolution, Virginia 
struggled to abolish the slave trade, but was prevented by the inter- 
position of the British Crown, which refused to sanction it. 

With what consistency can the Agitator of the Romish Church in- 
dulge in his tirades of abuse against their involuntary inheritance of 
African Slavery, when the Popes of Rome gave it their pious coun- 
tenance and protection for a period of One thousand seven hundred 
years? When, up to this hour, it would have been the darling policy 
of Romish superstition, but for the example of the United States, and 
the intrepid eloquence of Martin Luther? When, but for George 
Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, England would 
never have dreamed of its abolition — nor (Vilbe? force have thundered 
the pealing tires of his soul-stirring eloquence, till the roof of St. 
Stephen's rang with the echoes of Liberty, and startled the advocates 
of human thraldom, to listen to the pleadings of benevolence, in behalf 
of the rights of man. Ever sacred be the divine genius of our great 
Republic, which could thus kindle the watch-fires of Freedom, to 
rouse a slumbering world to fulfil the human destination of the creed 
of the Saviour of men ! Beautiful creation of love— sublime effusion 
of human glory, terminating in the happiness of the human race! 
Let us venerate and cherish forever — admire, love, and support, to the 
end of time, our inestimable Constitution ! 

Having thus demonstrated the rank injustice of the abuse heaped 
upon our country by these new converts to our ancient Declaration of 
Rights — so far as they apply to the colored — but who yet deny the 
equality of the xvhite race, and who make slaves of the white man — 
because to admit his rights, would be to break down the rotten col- 
umns that now but half sustain their tottering System of Monarchy — 
having shown the ungenerous character of the charge brought against 
us, of being inconsistent in our Declaration of Independence, 1 now turn 



22 

upon O'Connell and Pope Gregory, and the whole band of Monarch- 
ists throughout Christendom, and demand of them, why they refuse to 
accord to their white subjects the blessings of equality 1 We de- 
clare, as Christ proclaimed, that all men are created "Free and 
Equal." That they are all entitled to the pursuit of happiness. O'- 
Connell and the Pope, and all the Kings of the Universe contend for 
the slavery of the white man, and admit only the freedom of the 
African ! This is the principle of Popery — of Monarchy — of Daniel 
O'Connell! Behold Irish Catholics! how the Pope and his Emissary 
love you ! They would exhaust language, and tire patience, to show 
their zeal for African Emancipation, but to enfranchise Ireland, not a 
syllable — not a dollar — not one prayer to Heaven — not one appeal to 
man ! No! the Pope issues no Bull in favor of Republican Govern- 
ment — that only test of the love of Liberty. O'Connell sends forth no 
Proclamation from Dublin, exhorting his Repealers to shake off the 
galling fetters of Monarchy! His prayers are for the Throne! His 
exhortations are to Royalty ! His entreaties glow with the burning 
zeal of a devoted Royalist ! 

In all our trials, in all emergencies, the Ark of our safety is the 
Federal Constitution. We allow no one to touch that with profane 
hands. If an American, he stands self-rebuked by the consciousness of 
wrong. If a foreigner, hi excites our wrath to chastise his insolence. 
The attempt of O'Connell to organize an Irish Catholic vote, to "carry 
out the intentions of the Pope," is a wanton assault upon our excel- 
lent Constitution. It seeks to disorganize it. It aims a fatal blow at 
its vital element. It tends to destroy the Equal Rights on which it 
rests, as a foundation of adamant. How ? By introducing a. foreign 
influence, to accomplish a foreign object. By polluting the Ballot 
Box, to further or carry out the intentions of a Foreign Despot — whose 
object is the abridgment of Liberty, the extension of Power, the Union 
of Church and State, and the total subversion of free principles. 

Against this baneful influence of foreign interference in our political 
relations, we listen always with delight to the eloquent exhortations of 
the Father of his Country. In his farewell address, we have a lesson 
that cannot be studied too frequently, nor cherished with too fond an 
affection. It is the advice of a Father to his Children — Never to in- 
terweave our destiny with any interest, feeling, passion, prejudice, 
humor, caprice, or ambition, of any part of Europe. Standing aloof 
equally from Irish sympathies and English power — from Papal schemes 
and French Revolutions — from Russian wiles and Spanish Inquisitions. 

Audacity is the characteristic feature of O'Connell. No other 
Leader of a Faction in Europe ever dared to meditate, much less to 
execute, so stupendous a scheme of National Combination within the 
bosom of the United States — even to advance a foreign interest by fo- 
reign means! But O'Connell bows to no restraining principle of 
honor, decency, justice or reason. Bloated with conceit, distended by 
vanity, inflamed by ambition, he rushes on with undaunted front, as 
the Ravisher of Freedom ! — forces his impetuous way into the very 
Sanctuary of Liberty ! — seizes with ruthless fury the American Ballot 



23 

Box ! — defaces the sacred inscription that consecrates the Temple of 
Liberty to the refuge of man ! — profanes the Ark of our Political Co- 
venant by the breath of Bigotrv ! — and finally attempts, like some out- 
lawed desperado, to hurl from the Pedestal of Freedom, the venerated 
statue of Washington, The Father of his Country ! 

There is one altar where not to bow the heart in worship, proclaims 
an infidelity which shuts out all hope, all prospect, all chance, of civili- 
zation. An altar which, when its fires go out, leaves the world in 
darkness. An altar which, when cold and deserted, solitary and lone, 
with no eager votaries clustering round its fires, proclaims a people in- 
sensible to the finer touches of humanity — incapable of virtue — dead to 
the love of fame, and lost to the charms of glory, ft is the altar of 
Domestic Love ! Here centre all the warrior's toils — here end all the 
patriot's labors — here gather to a head, all that man can devise of 
power, all that Genius can invent of greatness, all that Science, Art, 
and Education can bestow to enlarge the mind ; all that Religion can 
suggest or give to soften and purify the heart. To this altar all people, 
of all nations, come to enjoy the fruits of their struggles, and render the 
homage due to the lest of wisdom. As the flame on it is clear and un- 
dying, so is the civilization of man perfect. Domestic Love is the 
master-key to the harmony of Government. Liberty is only precious 
as it draws the circle of security around the gods of our household. 
Law is only an element of Order, as it throws the sacred mantle of 
Justice over the heads of its votaries. Revolutions, convulsions, rebel- 
lions, and outbreaks, are only to be appreciated as blessings, or depre- 
cated as a curse more fatal than the curse of Cain, as they seek to rekin- 
dle the fires of that altar, extinguished by the lusts, ambition, rapine, and 
cruelty of man. Is that the shout of REPEAL which rings along the 
earth? Is that the clamor of "Conspiracy " detected, which deafens 
the affrighted ear? Is that the cry of Sedition, which echoes among 
the hills, from the officers of justice to the terrified victims who fly 
from its sound, as if Retribution pursued them with a sword of fire? Aye ! 
'tis even so. The music of " Repeal," may yet become the hymn of 
Discord. Then test it by the altar of Domestic Love. Is Repeal to 
rekindle or extinguish its fires ? " Repeal," which unchains the wild 
blast of " conspiracy " — which opens the bloody gates of Sedition — 
which goads Justice to the pursuit of the fugitive ; filling the gaol with 
the suspected, the dungeons with her victims, and the gibbet with her 
sacrifices! Is this rekindling the fire on the altar of Domestic Love? 

It is peculiar to the Romish Church — I mean the Pope — that it al- 
lows of no allegiance to a political government not Romish! Hence 
its perpetual struggles after power. Hence its incessant throes and 
convulsions of civil discord, and political Revolutions. It is the Demon 
of ambitious poxver, whose fell touch extinguishes the sacred fire on 
the Altar of Domestic Love! 

Trace Repeal back one step, and whence does it flow? From the 
Papal throne. From that throne, unlike all others, built upon power, 
Religions and Temporal — Spiritual and Political. The Power which 
makes man a slave, and transforms Kings into Fiends — Priests into 



24 



021 399 331 



Tormentors — a People into Drones — a Country into a Desert. A Fow- 
er which extinguishes the fire on the Altar of Domestic Love — in a 
form peculiar, fatal, revolting! Snatching its votaries away from the 
homage of nature, — to the cold Convent — the repulsive Abbey — the 
gloomy cell of the anchorite — the horrid dungeons of the Inquisition, and 
the demoralizing edict of Celibacy. Stirring up Sedition, Rebellion 
and Civil War, as the only means of extending a power which reason 
revolts from, and persuasion fails to diffuse. Which mankind have re- 
sisted, in every age, at the peril and under the penalty of the cannon's 
mouth, the edge of the sword, the fire of the faggot, the torments of 
the stake, and the tortures of the rack! 

Intelligence! Education! Knowledge! upborne on these pinions, no 
people can fear the inroads of Despotism, or shrink appalled from the 
monarchists of power. In vain will superstition plot, if an unshackled 
press, remains free to speak. In vain will Demagogues attempt to 
hoodwink the masses, if thought and reason be left free, to discuss truth, 
inquire into facts, investigate principles, and expose error, denounce 
fraud, reveal hypocrisy, and point out villainy to execration and con- 
tempt. A free Press, untrammelled thought and intrepid speech, are 
the true and potent champions of Liberty. Light, glorious, immortal, 
sublime light — is the Guardian Angel of the best gifts of heaven to man. 
When O'Cohnell and the Pope devised the scheme to possess themselves 
of the Ballot Box of Liberty, in order to turn its fire to its own destruc- 
tion, they overlooked in their impious arrogance the sublime Truth, 
that when God sends blessings to man he also sends Angels to protect 
them. W r hat the flaming sword of the Angel of Paradise was to our 
first parents, the Liberty of the Press is to the generation which cull- 
ed from the Reformation of Luther the immortal principles embodied 
in the rights of man. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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